Great review! I'm glad to learn about this book - I'd never even heard of it!

Me too, it's going on my list now!

me toooooooooooooooooooo

And the language didn't bother you at all? The dialect is so ridiculous it made me angry. The book is so trite and predictable and c'mon! Skeeter "accidentally" leaves her precious folder that incriminates half of the black women in the town at a DAR meeting? I couldn't disagree with you more. I know a lot of people like this book, but it's trash, pure and simple.

Hi, Melinda. Thanks for your input.

Just a couple of quick comments:

I listened to the audio version, and I thought it was exceptionally done. It's rare to find an audio-book so well performed, and thus, for me this bumped my rating from 4 to 5 stars. I also read/listened to the book prior to all the hype and had no idea what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised. As I note in my review, while I do think it has some flaws, those flaws did not take away from my enjoyment of the book overall.

Some reviewers have called this book an instant classic, and to that I would disagree. I definitely don't think it's of the same caliber. But I most certainly would not call it trash.

I did not find the dialect bothersome, but again, perhaps this is because I listened to it performed and did not read it in my own voice. In any event, I personally did not find it offensive at all. Aibileen and Minny were clearly the strongest characters in the novel. But books written in the vernacular are often controversial.

I understand how a good reading of a book can transform the overall experience...so I appreciate that you told me that you listened to it rather than reading it. If I would have done it that way, I probably would have liked it more because I wouldn't have been just staring at the words on the page rolling my eyes. I listened to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from Audible.com and that is probably only a 4 star book but it was a 5+ star listen because it was so beautifully performed. Same with The Pillars of the Earth... kind of a bad book, really, but the narration brought it to life.

And I also know about reading books before the hype... I picked up this little book that looked interesting to me called The DaVinci Code about 4 or 5 months before it took off and I quite liked it. Plus, I felt so smug 2 and 3 years later when all the hoopla was going on about it and I had already practically forgotten about it. I do wish I hadn't brought my first edition back to the book store to sell for used. Oh well..... live and learn!

Thanks for enlightening me!

omg did u saw the movie i cant beleve a girl was eat pupin a pie it was so funny and nessty !!